Conventional telephones typically receive user input via the ubiquitous numeric keypad. In the most basic arrangement, a user requests a telephone connection with a remote party by dialing the remote party's telephone number using the keys of such a keypad. A conventional telephone keypad may include letters associated with each key in order to enable input of alpha characters.
Interactive voice response (IVR) systems attempt to address the limitations of the conventional keypad in order to provide a more sophisticated exchange between a telephone user and a remote system. In particular, IVR systems provide audible menus which a user may navigate by depressing keypad keys. Most users, however, find IVR systems to be frustrating and inefficient for all but the simplest of tasks.
Modern telephone systems may provide a small display screen in addition to the traditional keypad. The screen may display information typed by a user using the keypad and/or other information such as date and time. In some instances, the screen may provide labels for soft keys having functions that vary depending on operating context.
Systems are desired for efficiently providing telephone users with a useful interface. Such a system may be customizable and/or sufficiently inexpensive to manufacture.
According to various embodiments, the invention generally relates to systems to provide user interfaces for telephone systems. More particularly, some embodiments are concerned with systems to generate and/or support customizable telephone interface layouts.